Hoylake beach, the boating lake and Hoyle Road can all be seen in an episode of Coast that was shown on BBC2 on Sunday evening.
You can watch it on BBC iplayer in your browser right here – fast forward to 45 mins and you’ll be just ahead of the right spot. It’s an interesting item about how a huge ship called The Great Eastern, that was broken up in the Mersey, laid a trans-atlantic telegraph cable.
Many thanks to Nick of Flavours Cafe in Market Street for tweeting about it otherwise I’d have completely missed it.
I am not permitted to watch BBC i player outside of UK., is there any other way I could view the picture?
Hi All,
The Great Eastern ended her days moored off Rock Ferry.
She acted as a floating Bill Board for Llewis’s – what a fate for a Nautical wonder!
I remember as a lad playing on her anchor chain, which was lying on Rock Ferry shore – all that was left after she was broken up. I heard that Liverpool FC took and raised one of her masts, Also another of her masts went down to Greenwich Museum.
Ricky Cooper.
Hi All,
My apologies regarding my previous post.
1. The mast at Greenwich Museum did NOT come from the Great Eastern – but from another of Brunel’s ships – the Great Britain.[now on show at Bristol]
2. Reference : “The top mast of the Great Eastern was used as a flag pole at the entrance to Liverpool Football Club’s ground at Anfield.”
3. Reference : “Liverpool FC have the Great Eastern’s main mast positioned at the Kop end of their ground. It cost 20 guineas from a scrap yard.”
Ricky Cooper.
Ah, nope, I don’t think iplayer works outside the UK. Unless it does as an app on an ipad?
I have a particular interest in The ‘Great Eastern’, in that my (late) great uncle.. George Savage was amongst the first passengers on its inaugural passage to eastern Australia.. listed as a 2nd class passenger.. this being the first (recorded) sailing of a ship using both steam and sail power.
George Savage ,originally of a farming family in Helsby,Cheshire-sailed in 1879 , research to date leads to departure being from aport on the southern English coast.
Should anyone have further information on this ship, pictures too of both interior and exterior,will really please me.
Sincere thanks.